Trash disposal has become a troublesome aspect of the pollution control problem, and solutions incorporating source separation of the trash have been largely unsuccessful. At the present time, various types of trash, such as cans, paper, bottles and the like, are collected periodically and deposited in garbage dumps, land areas to be filled, incineration plants, and so on. The available trash depositories, however, are rapidly being filled by the ever-increasing quantities of trash. Accordingly, it has become necessary to develop other methods of trash disposal.
One of the trash disposal methods which is gaining increased attention involves reuse of the trash materials. This is commonly referred to as recycling the trash materials. Recycling involves the processing of certain types of trash material to a reusable form. For example, it has been estimated that approximately 85% of the wastepaper thrown out today could be recycled. Recycling necessitates segregation of the various kinds of trash materials such that they can be processed or recycled. However, segregation at the recycling facility presents such a monumental task as to render this approach impractical. Segregation at the source is the ideal solution. Accordingly, some municipal regulations require a home owner or business establishment to separate garbage into different types, for example, to separate bottles, aluminum cans, paper, plastic containers, newspapers and the like from each other not only for recycling purposes but also to reduce the amount of residual garbage which requires removal to a garbage dump, land fill or incineration plant.
Conventional garbage containers have generally been of a single chamber type so that different types of garbage can be deposited therein for subsequent removal. When required to separate garbage into different types, home owners and business establishments have usually resorted to setting aside separate containers for each type of garbage. For example, one container may be set aside for aluminum cans, a second container for plastic materials, a third container for newspapers and paper, and a fourth container for any remaining garbage. However, this requires a rather large amount of space and is not generally convenient to home owners and businesses.
In other cases, compartmented trash receptacles have been developed. Generally, these receptacles have a plurality of containers which are disposed in side-by-side relation within a common housing or which are held together by a common cover. However, there are several drawbacks associated with such receptacles. For example, the garbage-receiving compartments are often of insufficient size, making the trash receptacle ineffective and inconvenient for the user. In addition, these types of multiple-compartment trash receptacles often require cumbersome support structures, resulting in substantial manufacturing and replacement costs. Further, the individual compartments are typically difficult and time-consuming to empty. Besides these operational disadvantages, these types of receptacles are also typically not aesthetically pleasing.
In office situations, some recycling programs have required the janitorial crew to hand-sort the contents of wastebaskets to remove recyclable materials. This task is not only unpleasant, but it is also very time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, manual sorting can be dangerous to the worker, who puts himself at risk for cuts and other injuries.
Other office recycling programs have required office employees to use a secondary container such as a cardboard tray or additional wastebasket for placement of recyclable paper. However, these trays have met with little success, because these containers take up valuable work space, there being insufficient space on the employee's desk or elsewhere for placement of the tray. In addition, the trays are normally aesthetically displeasing.
Another complication relates to the way in which the trash is collected and handled by the housekeeping staff before it is ultimately picked up for disposal. When the above recycling programs are utilized, the housekeeping staff must empty the separate trays, wastebaskets and/or barrels, often necessitating an additional pass through the area to be cleaned. The custodian's cleaning flow pattern is broken up by the additional steps required to pick up desk trays and empty them into separate containers. In some cases, the custodian must pull an additional waste cart with him, resulting in possible damage to the furniture and additional inconvenience. This disrupts the cleaning schedule and leads- to cost increases, inconvenience, and decline in morale for the housekeeping personnel.
The present invention addresses these and many other problems associated with currently available trash recycling solutions.